However Not?
by Roses of Sharon
Summary: Kagome's caught Inuyasha and Kikyou together, again. Except this time, it's worse. Can she come back for him? InuKago


However Not?

"Why? Why did Kagome leave me? Why did she leave me?" Inuyasha punched the ground, praying that he was wrong, praying that it was a dream. But it wasn't. He could no longer sense, no longer smell Kagome. "Why?" _Because she saw you_, his mind whispered_, because she saw you with Kikyou. With that dead wench._ He sat back on his heels. "No, that's not it. It can't be it! She's seen us before, and she's never just disappeared." _But it's different this time. This time you were kissing. This time you were hugging. This time you were half undressed._ "I didn't realize!" Inuyasha punched the ground again. "I'm sorry, Kagome! Do you hear me, wherever you are? I'm sorry!" Wailing his apologies to the heavens, Inuyasha's hot tears dripped onto the ground. "I'm so sorry, Kagome! Forgive me! Please, don't leave me…"

"What?" Kagome looked wildly around the room. "That's funny. I'm sure I heard Inuyasha screaming for me. Probably just the wind. He would never come after me anyway." _Kagome! I'm sorry, Kagome! Please, don't leave me…_ The forlorn voice of the hanyou she loved pierced her thoughts. Sitting straight up in her bed, she wildly shook her head. "Get out of my thoughts! You love Kikyou, so stop bothering me! Go… be happy with her." _Kagome, please, I love you. Don't leave me! Please, I'll do anything… never see Kikyou again… never call you names… compliment your cooking… let you take a bath in every hot spring we come across… let you take your tests without a fuss… Just don't leave me! _The voice was growing ever weaker, ever wilder. The dams which had controlled her tears before suddenly broke, and the river spewed forth. Rocking back and forth, Kagome held her head in her hands and hoped that he heart would stop breaking. _Kagome! _

"Kagome, please!" The ever weakening voice of the amber-eyed hanyou still rang out hours after he noticed the disappearance of his beloved. "Onegai, Kagome, please! Please don't leave! I didn't get to tell you – Aishiteru!" "I love you, Kagome! Only you!" "Inuyasha, come back!" The voices of his Shikon no Tama hunting partners rang out, "You need to eat, Inuyasha! You haven't eaten for days!"

"Please, Inuyasha, just eat something!" Shippou, almost in tears, begged his adopted father to eat. "Inu-_yasha_!" "Kagome would want you to eat," He said, resorting to underhanded manipulation. "Kagome wouldn't like you to be like this!" Unfortunately, this only served to add another bump to his growing collection.

_Why is it that it feels like I'm needed back in the Feudal Era? Why does it feel as if Inuyasha needs me? _Kagome pushed the thought aside once again, but with less conviction then she had when it had first started weeks ago. Inuyasha's voice had stopped. Instead, there was a nagging worry that something had happened while she had been gone. Suddenly, she could stand it no longer. Jumping up, she grabbed her supplies and packed that ridiculous yellow backpack of hers. Leaping out of the door, she raced down the stairs. In her wake, papers fluttered and her mother smiled, calmly. _I knew she would go back._

Racing into the well house, Kagome took a deep breath, _too late now_, and jumped in. Climbing out of the other side in a light drizzle, she peered over the edge of the well, only to be confronted with the sight of her beloved hanyou, sitting in a tree next to the well with his eyes closed, leaning back as if asleep. He looked gaunt, as if he had eaten only enough to survive. His hair looked as if it hadn't been combed or washed for weeks.

_I thought I smelled her – Kagome. It was her scent, jasmine and rain, exotic flowers, and the smell of clean, pure water. But I knew better than to look – knew better than to get my hopes up. I thought I smelled her before. And she was never there. I searched for hours, for days, hoping that I had really scented her. _Curiosity finally got the better of him. Curiosity and the ever lingering hope that the woman he loved would come back to him. Opening his amber eyes weakly, he looked up into the face of his koisshi, his beloved.

"Inuyasha…" His amber eyes, the eyes she loved so much, were dull with pain and despair. Those adorable, yet untouchable, puppy ears burrowed ever deeper down into his hair. Reaching out a shaking arm, he touched her, as if he wanted to make sure she was real. "Kagome…" Shaking even harder, he collapsed onto her, pulling her into his embrace. Only when her shirt became wet did she realize that the great and mighty Inuyasha was crying. Pulling her to her chest, she rubbed his back and smoothed his hair while he vented his grief and happiness.

"Kagome, you…" A coughing spasm ripped through him, and she realized that she could feel his ribs through his shirt. "You… came back…" Kagome smiled softly, feeling tears run down her own cheeks, "However could I not?" Inuyasha's body relaxed, as if the tension of weeks had just disappeared in the space of minutes. Falling out of the tree, he swiveled them around so that she would not be harmed when they landed. Once they were on solid ground, he swayed, and Kagome grabbed his arm and encircled his shoulders with her other arm. Leaning on her, Inuyasha laboriously began to walk back to Kaede's hut. Walking in despite the fact that Kaede-bachan was not home, she carefully laid the shivering Inuyasha down on the mat, covering him with a fleece blanket. Standing to leave, he suddenly grabbed hand, "Kagome… Kagome, where are you? I… I can't smell you… Don't leave me!" Shushing him with tears in her eyes, she knelt down beside him again, "its okay, Inuyasha, I'm right here. I won't leave Kaede's hut."

He was silent, though he didn't let go of her arm. Sighing, she gently removed his hand and placed it on the mat, then hurried over to the other side of the hut, trying to find some ramen from her last trip. At last finding one – shrimp flavor – she popped the lid and started to heat water, then poured it in. At the other end of the hut, Inuyasha moaned slightly, and whispered, "Bitch, hurry it up, would you?" Grumbling slightly, Kagome grabbed a pair of chopsticks and carried them over to Inuyasha, kneeling beside him once more.

She grabbed his hand, and whispered in the softest of voices, "Inuyasha, would you like some ramen?" He nodded almost immediately, and then winced. Kagome frowned; _He probably has a killer headache_. Lifting his upper body proved difficult – despite all the weight he had lost. Finally, they were in a comfortable position with him lying against her. Lifting a shaking hand, Inuyasha attempted to take the ramen cup, trying to regain some control. He had barely made it half way there before Kagome put a small bite of ramen to his lips. _Now_ he could smell it, and he opened his mouth before he had even thought of it. Kagome gently placed the noodles inside his mouth, and then fed him more. Soon, she had depleted the stock of noodles in Kaede's hut. By that time, Inuyasha was half asleep.

Kagome put her noodles down, preparing to leave, when Inuyasha's hand snaked out once again to grab a hold of her wrist. "I can't smell you when your far away Kagome… stay with me?" His pitiful voice shook her straight to the core, and she could see not a sign of the proud and arrogant hanyou he normally was. Sinking back down, she started rubbing his ears. He let out a few purrs – which he would undoubtedly deny come morning – and slipped off into oblivion, with Kagome joining him a few hours later.

Opening his eyes, Inuyasha peeked at his angel, wanting reassurance that she was still there, and marveling at the fact that she was. _She came back… I did so much to hurt her, yet she still came back and took care of me. I wouldn't have blamed her if she had left me to die. My angel…_ In another world, in another time, God looked down upon the pair and smiled, as Kikyou crumpled into dust in a faraway cave.


End file.
